News

After an advance period of approximately one year, the Eppenberg Tunnel was broken through on February 2, 2018.

The Eppenberg Tunnel is part of the Swiss Federal Railway Line between Aarau and Olten which is being widened to four tracks. The tunnel was advanced with a mixed shield tunnel boring machine over a length of 2.6 km and will have a total length of 3.2 km long upon completion of the construction works. The Eppenberg Tunnel is scheduled to be put into operation by the end of 2020. It will provide a significant increase in capacity of the main artery from Zurich to Bern.

Together with partners, ILF Consulting Engineers was awarded a contract for the project works (basic design to construction design) and the site supervision works as part of an overall planning mandate for the 4-tracking of the Aarau–Olten railway line. In addition, the mandate comprises the railway technology works after completion of the civil works.

Pictures about the breakthrough: http://baudoku.1000eyes.de/cam/sbbeppenberg/tunnel4/

In late 2017 BBT SE commissioned a bidding consortium led by ILF Consulting Engineers to perform the monitoring of the ground and surface water resources of the Brenner Base Tunnel.

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The monitoring of ground and surface water resources of the longest underground railway connection in the world is performed across borders both in Austria and in Italy along the entire 64 km long route. In total, at 1,200 measuring points measurements and samples are taken every four weeks, with maintenance and management of 100 partly very complex data logger installations in groundwater, springs, creeks and rivers.

ILF has been assisting BBT SE with the monitoring of ground and surface water resources for many years. For the Brenner Base Tunnel project ILF has carried out many different design services since 1977.

In the year 2017 that is drawing to a close, ILF celebrated its 50th anniversary. Besides diverse challenges that we faced, the year 2017 also brought us many encouraging developments.
All in all, a sense of great satisfaction and gratitude prevails regarding what we have achieved together. Our sincere thanks go to our esteemed clients and business partners for their constructive cooperation.

Wishing you a peaceful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous 2018!

After a two-year construction period, the breakthrough of the western and east tubes of the Oberau Tunnel (Germany) was celebrated.

The 3 km long western section is part of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen bypass. After completing the construction works, scheduled for 2021, the Oberau Tunnel will be the longest twin-tube road tunnel in Bavaria.
The EUR 230 million bypass shall divert traffic going to the holiday destination of Garmisch-Partenkirchen around the village of Oberau.

ILF Consulting Engineers has been supporting the motorway authority of Southern Bavaria in the design of several project phases for many years. Currently, ILF is responsible for reviewing the construction design and for providing site supervision as well as site management services.

On November 30, 2017, Jens Kottsieper and Michel Kneller will be presenting a white paper on decentralized hydrogen production from renewable energy for the transport sector at the ÖGEW/DGMK Autumn Conference in Vienna, Austria.

In order to meet the climate objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement to further reduce CO2 emissions, it will be necessary to increase the renewable energy share in the global energy mix. One potential solution would be to convert surplus renewable energy to hydrogen through a process of electrolysis, store it and make it available to the transport sector. Mr. Kottsieper and Mr. Kneller will also present key findings and lessons learned from the Demo4Grid project that is currently being implemented in Innsbruck, Austria.

You can have a look on the white paper here: https://www.ilf.com/news/publications/

The Schaftenau–Radfeld Junction in the Lower Inn Valley (Austria) forms part of the northern feeder line to the Brenner Base Tunnel. The upgrade of this section is part of four-tracking the line in the Lower Inn Valley.

With this project, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) intend to increase the line capacity and eliminate bottlenecks for the Brenner Base Tunnel to achieve full efficiency. In addition, the project will bring traffic relief for the Lower Inn Valley and reduce travel time, as design speeds of 230 km/h will be possible.

The line will have a total length of approx. 20.5 km including 11.7 km in mined and cut-and cover tunnels and 5.6 km in open-track sections. Furthermore, the project will include the construction of four trough structures with a length of 3.2 km.

ILF Consulting Engineers will be responsible for preparing the design documents for the preliminary authorization of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) pending legal permission for the mined tunnel near Angath. Together with partners, ILF will also be in charge of the cut-and-cover tunnels and trough structures.

ILF Consulting Engineers will be present at the HYDRO 2017 in Seville, Spain, from 9 to 11 October 2017.

Reinhard Fritzer and Eva Manninger will be giving a lecture about the “Atdorf pumped-storage plant: Three weeks of public discussion and a milestone in the permit application procedure” at session 12d “Pumped storage: Potential, plans and case studies”.

Furthermore, Serafino Weissenbach will report on “Hydraulic design: Alto Maipo hydropower project” at session 4 “Civil engineering: Design”.

The speakers will be happy to receive questions or get feedback. Let us know how we can help you tackle your challenges (reinhard.fritzer@ilf.com, eva.manninger@ilf.com or serafino.weissenbach@ilf.com)!

For further information please go to the website http://www.hydropower-dams.com/hydro-2017.php?c_id=88

After a construction period of three years the Arlberg Tunnel on the S16 Arlberg Road (Austria) was officially reopened to traffic.

Having a length of approx. 15.5 km, the longest road tunnel in Austria was equipped with 37 additional escape routes and another eight emergency lay-bys. In total ASFINAG invested EUR 154 million in the safety upgrade of the tunnel, and has applied state-of-the-art technologies (high-pressure water mist system, thermal scanner at both portals, AKUT system, etc.) in the tunnel.

ILF Consulting Engineers was entrusted with the project management and the supervision of the electromechanical installations and control systems.

In July 2017 ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG commissioned ILF Consulting Engineers, together with partners, to provide permit application and EIA design services for the railway project Nordbahn Wien Süßenbrunn–Bernhardsthal in Austria.

With a length of approx. 66 km and two tracks the project forms part of the “Pontebbana Axis” that is classified as an “interoperable high-speed railway line” in the ÖBB network.
By increasing train speeds to 160 km/h it shall become possible to travel from Vienna to Prague in three hours and 45 minutes. Furthermore, non-stop travel time of trains between Vienna and Břeclav shall be reduced to 60 minutes.

ILF Consulting Engineers was commissioned by WindLandKraft GmbH to carry out the project management and design services for the Großinzersdorf Wind Park in Lower Austria (Austria).

The required services encompass the project and construction management up to the completion of the overall wind farm (incl. construction management of plant assembly), construction design and preparation of tender documents/award of works for access roads to wind farm, construction site and wind farm cabling.

ILF Consulting Engineers participated actively in this yearai??i??s international conference ai???ai???Shotcrete for Underground Support XIIIai??i??ai??? in Irsee, Germany, from September 3rd to 6th 2017. The conference is an excellent forum for new developments in rock engineering, tunneling, underground space and deep excavation.

ILFai??i??s Dr. Matthias Beisler, co-chair of this event, talked about ai???Multi layered shotcrete design for tunnel constructionai???, which attracted a lot of interest from the attending international experts.

In the course of this event the location for the next conference in this series was announced. SUS XIV in 2019 will be organized in Bangkok (Thailand) under the auspices of ILF and chaired by Dr. Matthias Beisler.

Legend f.l.t.r.: Prof. H. Klapperich (TU Freiberg), A. Spiegl (ILF), Dr. M. Beisler (ILF-Thailand), Prof. D. MAi??hner (FH MA?nster), P.Ngamsantikul (Thailand Underground & Tunneling Group), Dr. Guojun Li (Singapore Metro Consultant), Dr. J. Fu (Central South University, China)

On 28.07.2017 the top heading breakthrough of the 2.1-km-long Stein Tunnel was celebrated after 12 months of construction. The Stein railway tunnel forms part of the St. Kanzian string of tunnels on the Carinthian side of the new Koralm railway line, which connects the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt (Austria). The breakthrough of the bench is scheduled to take place by the end of August.
The 0.5-km-long Lind Tunnel of the St. Kanzian string of tunnels had already been completed on 21.02.2017 after 8 months of excavation. The waterproof permanent linings, consisting of reinforced concrete, will be installed in the near future. Track construction will not go underway before the structural works for the St. Kanzian string of tunnels will be completed at the end of 2019. The section between Althofen on the Drava River and St. Kanzian is due to go into operation by 2022.

After completing the conceptual design, permit application design, and tender design services, ILF Consulting Engineers have been awarded a contract by the Austrian Federal Railway ÖBB in mid 2015, entrusting them with the construction design and on-site geotechnical monitoring services.

A video of the breakthrough can be found here: https://kaernten.tv/shows/122

Image source: Land Kärnten, Fotographer: LPD/Just

ILF Consulting Engineers participated actively in this year’s “Green Energy Summit” in Yangon (Myanmar) from 14th to 15th August 2017.  The summit is excellently designed to provide a platform for international energy industry players and potential investors for updates on the market potential and development plan of green energy sector in Myanmar.

ILF’s experts presented our expertise in Renewables, including Photovoltaics, Biomass, Waste-to-Energy, Hydropower, Thermal Energy and Oil&Gas. Moreover, Frank Zimmermann had a talk about “Optimized Hybridization and Storage of Mini-Grids using Renewable Energy Sources”.

For further information about the Green Energy Summit, please visit the website: http://www.myanmargreenenergysummit.com/

Mr. Zimmermann while holding his talk about “Optimized Hybridization and Storage of Mini-Grids using Renewable Energy Sources”.

Together with nine other corporate partners, ILF Consulting Engineers and IGLZ (IF Lebenszyklus Bau) have joined forces to develop and implement the start-up contest “Digital Building Solutions” (DBS) and an event for the construction and real estate industry.

DSB is a “scouted” contest where relevant startups from the German speaking countries Germany, Austria and Switzerland present their innovation ideas on design, construction, operation and financing. The corporate partners have now assessed all ideas and cast their votes. The top-ranked startups selected for the final pitch will be meeting up at the award ceremony on 12 Sept 2017. The best startups from each subject area will be awarded a prize. ILF is a corporate partner and jury member.

More detailed information is available at: http://www.ig-lebenszyklus.at/digital-building-solutions/#corporate-partners

This year Astana hosts the international exposition – EXPO 2017. The theme of the EXPO is Future Energy. The objective is to spark a global debate between countries, non-governmental organisations, companies and the general public on the crucial question: ”how do we ensure safe and sustainable access to energy for all, while reducing CO2 emissions?”

Earlier this month ILF Consulting Engineers actively participated in two events, one of which was the “Kazakhstani-Austrian Sustainable Technology Day” and the other was the “50 Years of ILF” celebration held in the Austrian pavilion of the EXPO. During the Technology Day, ILF’s experts on Hydropower Engineering (John Thene, ILF Austria) and Smart Cities (Enrico Casaretti, ILF Abu Dhabi) presented their thoughts on the current situation in the renewable energy sector and shared insights on future developments. During the sessions government representatives, investors, engineers, and equipment suppliers from Kazakhstan and Austria had the opportunity to share knowledge and experience, make new connections, and meet new colleagues in a B2B format.

Legend: Speaker J. Thene (ILF)

Since June 2017 construction is under way for the 20 MW Mestiachala 1 and the 30 MW Mestiachala 2 hydropower plants in Georgia. Both plants are planned to be located on Mestiachala River in Georgia’s Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region. The investment costs will be some USD 65 million.

The hydropower plants are being developed by the joint venture “Georgian Renewable Power” (GRPC).

ILF Consulting Engineers is in charge of construction supervision for both hydropower plants.

The Roads Department of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia awarded the contract for the Preparation of Feasibility Study for Upgrading of Tbilisi–Bakurtsikhe, Tsnori–Lagodekhi Road and Detailed Design for the Upgrading of Tbilisi–Sagarejo and Sagarejo–Bakurtsikhe Road to a Joint Venture with ILF Consulting Engineers.

The relevant road sections from Tbilisi–Bakurtsikhe (approx. length 80 km) and Tsnori–Lagodekhi (approx. length 40 km) start in the eastern part of Tbilisi and end near Lagodekhi district at the border to Azerbaijan.

The service includes topographic, hydrological and geotechnical surveying, preparation of an DEM, traffic survey and traffic forecast for the entire project area, determination of economic costs, road design for the alignment to a detailed degree, and economic evaluation of the alignment. The detailed design of the road will be executed in the second phase.

Last year, the transmission system operators TenneT TSO GmbH and TransnetBW GmbH awarded ILF Consulting Engineers and its partners with a contract for the permit application design of the north-south power lines across Germany that are to laid underground. At present, SuedLink is the largest infrastructure project in Germany and is scheduled to enter into operation in 2025. As the competent approval authority, the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) currently holds a number of scoping conferences.

The communication and participation process entails intensive dialogue with the general public. The project team consisting of clients and ILF with partners won the “SABRE Award” (London) in the “Community Relations” category and the “European Excellence Award in Public Affairs” (Brussels).

What is more, the online participation tool (Web-GIS) set up and managed by ILF won the “German Award for Online Communication” in the “Public Affairs” category.

On account of the age of the existing gas turbines and in response to the newly adopted Emission Control Act (EG-K 2013) Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH (TAG) decided to replace the respective compressor units step by step. The NOxER 2 project comprises the Baumgarten, Eggendorf, Grafendorf and Ruden compressor stations.

ILF Consulting Engineers Austria GmbH was already involved in the design during previous project phases. As a result of the long and good working relationship in the past, ILF has now been awarded a contract as a subcontractor of Saipem for the execution phase. ILF will render design services for procurement support and detailed design (civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and automation engineering) and construction supervision services for the Baumgarten, Eggendorf, Grafendorf, and Ruden compressor stations. For the Ruden station the services furthermore include basic engineering and authority engineering.

Now that most of you have seen the film for the first time on the occasion of the various celebrations marking ILFai??i??s 50th anniversary, we are pleased to inform you that it is now available for download from the following link.